The Kodak Easyshare Mini, or M200, to give it it's full name, is one of Kodak's smallest ever digital cameras, and it makes a refreshing change to see a camera with one aim in life: to be small. In that sense it features a small 3x optical zoom lens, a small 10 megapixel sensor, and a "small" 2.5 inch screen. Oh, and it fits in your pocket, handbag, or anywhere else small... but how does it perform? Find out here...

Kodak Easyshare Mini M200: Features

These pictures of the camera are larger than life-size, and do little to convey how small the camera is. The Kodak Easyshare Mini, makes the Canon Powershot S95 (a relatively small camera) look like a large camera in comparison.

The back of the camera features a 2.5inch screen, zoom control, delete, menu, info, flash, four-way controller, middle OK button, playback, and the Kodak share button - this lets you share to facebook, twitter, youtube, and a whole host of other photo sharing sites. The sharing process starts when you connect the camera to your computer, the Kodak Easyshare software automatically detects the camera and starts the upload process, assuming you've already configured where you want the photos to go.

Kodak Easyshare Mini M200: Handling

Here are a number of photos of the Kodak Easyshare Mini next to other cameras, designed to show you how small this camera actually is.

The design is rather minimalist, but in a good way, it features a neat design, with all the usual features, plus a handy self-portrait mirror, perfect for taking shots of you and your friends.

The top of the camera features a shutter response button, on/off switch and mode button as well as a speaker. The front has an LED, self-portrait mirror, flash, microphone, and the small 3x optical zoom lens.

Perhaps the following shot will give a good idea of the size of the camera, as we put it next to the Kodak Easyshare Max Z990. Mini vs Max if you will.

Menus: The mode is changed using the button in between the shutter response and on/off button, and lets you choose between Smart Capture, Video, Program (P), and Scenes. The reason why I've included this information in a paragraph titled "Menus" is because the amount of options you get in the menus is directly related to the mode you're in.

The menus are split into Capture, Setup, and in playback: Review, Edit, and Setup.

In the default mode, Smart Capture, there are two Capture menu options: Picture size and self-timer. The Picture size lets you choose from 4:3, 3:2 and 16:9 aspect ratios, with 10 megapixels to 3 megapixels being available.

In Program mode, the full menu is available with the following options available: Picture size, exposure compensation, ISO speed, Long time exposure (upto 4 seconds), Self-timer/burst, Colour mode, White Balance (does not feature manual), Focus mode, Focus / Exposure, AF control, and Sharpness.

Battery Life: The camera will take 200 shots according to CIPA standards. I managed to take over 200 shots and the battery still had 1 bar showing (out of three).

Speed: We tested the Kodak Easyshare Mini's performance below:

Kodak Easyshare Mini

Shutter Reponse

<0.1

Wide - Focus / Shutter Response

0.1

Full zoom - Focus / Shutter Response

0.2 / 0.6 (Smart Capture / Program)

Switch on Time to Taking a Photo

2.7

Shot to Shot (without flash)

1.1

Shot to Shot with Flash

1.2

Continuous Shooting (full resolution)

1.5fps (3 shots)

The shutter response is very good, and assuming the camera is ready to take the next shot, the focusing is very quick as well. There is a slight delay if the camera is still writing the previous shot to the memory card. Shot to shot times are good, and the continuous shooting is also good for a budget camera, although the camera will only take 3 shots at the fastest speed.

Kodak Easyshare Mini M200: Performance

Here are several sample photos, just click to view full size images.

Rape Seed Field

Building

ISO and Noise Performance

ISO80

ISO100

ISO200

ISO400

ISO800

ISO1000

ISO80-ISO100 - lowest noise. ISO200 noticeable noise. ISO400 noticeable noise, and softer results, with some loss of colour. ISO800 noise becomes quite damaging to the image quality, both in detail, and colour. ISO1000 produces the worst results, and is best avoided.

The Panoramic mode on the Mini differs slightly from other cameras with built in auto-stitching - with the Mini you take three separate photos, and then they camera will merge them together into one image, as shown below. A lot of the new models with CMOS sensors, simply let you pan the camera, and the photo will be recorded and put into an image automatically.

The camera, when used on the default settings (Full colour), produces quite washed out colours, so it may be worth switching to Vivid colour to get better results.

Unfortunately the Mini does not feature the Kodak film modes such as Kodachrome, as featured on the Max.

White Balance Performance:

Auto white balance - tungsten lighting

Tungsten preset - tungsten lighting

Auto white balance - fluorescent lighting

Fluorescent preset - fluorescent lighting

Auto white balance does a good job in both lighting conditions, and the preset auto white balance did little to change the output in these conditions.

Macro Performance: The camera allows you to be roughly 3cm away from your subject, and in smart auto mode will automatically switch to the macro mode when the subject is very close.

Macro Flower

Portrait with flash

The portrait shot came out well, red-eye was reduced by using the portrait scene mode.
Video Mode

Sample Video.

The Mini records VGA video, at 30fps with mono sound. Quality is not particularly good, although the camera does have an interesting playback mode that lets you watch the video at 4x/8x speed. The compact size makes it easy to use the camera in small places - mounted on a dashboard or with the tripod socket other places.

Value for Money
The Kodak Easyshare Mini M200 is available for around £70, making it very competitively priced for an ultra compact camera, with the majority of alternative ultra compact cameras aiming for the more premium market and featuring metal bodies, they are often priced higher than this. Other budget cameras include the Canon Powershot A800, and Nikon Coolpix L23, but none are as compact as this. Other stylish compact cameras you could look at include the Panasonic Lumix S3, priced at around £100, the Pentax Optio S1, priced at around £110, or the Pentax Optio RS1000 with changeable faceplates and a low price of around £70.

Kodak Easyshare Mini M200: Verdict

The Kodak Easyshare Mini M200 has a number of key selling points and features that it is going to be bought for, these are 1) it's size 2) it's price and 3) it's ease of use, and possibly 4) it's ability to share photos, although not necessarily in that order. If you want an ultra compact, easy to use camera, that's very good value for money, and aren't too concerned about image quality, then this camera is worth looking at. Particularly if you simply want a camera to take everywhere with you, and then upload the photos to facebook anyway, especially when facebook's photos only show up at 720 pixels wide the majority of the time! The most lacking feature is the VGA video mode, it would be great for videos if it recorded 720p, as it's size makes it very useful for mounting in small spaces.

Kodak Easyshare Mini M200 Pros: Very smallEasy to useSharing button built inGood value for moneyHave I mentioned how small it is?Excellent value for money